SCHOOS PREPARING TO SEE GIRLS AGAIN

Jennifer LenhartCHICAGO TRIBUNE

A state-appointed therapist is working with David and Sharon Schoo and their two daughters to try to prepare for them for the first visit between parents and children in four months, the attorney for the children said Thursday.

Attorney Carole Grahn-Hayes said that the meeting will be traumatic for everyone involved. She said that is why the parents and the children must work with a therapist beforehand.

Grahn-Hayes called a news conference Thursday to provide more details about the process of reuniting the family and to plead with the media to give the Schoos some privacy while it is under way.

The children, Nicole, 10, and Diana, 4, have not seen their parents since Dec. 20, when their mother and father went on a nine-day trip to Mexico and left them at home without supervision.

Upon returning, the parents were arrested and charged with child-abandonment in a case that attracted worldwide attention. While the girls were moved to foster homes, their parents appeared headed for trial. That changed this week when prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to a plea arrangement.

"Please be aware of the emotional needs of these children," Grahn-Hayes said. "They need to be allowed to lead a normal life. And I think at this point, the media needs to back off and let these children alone, let them have the visits with their parents in a normal way and not be made into a spectacle."

She said the Nicole's classmates are aware of the international media attention her parents have received.

"The little girl goes to school. She's called the `Home Alone' girl," Grahn-Hayes said. "It's emotionally trying for this child. She needs to get back to a normal life and let this family get back together."

Grahn-Hayes said the process will take six months to several years.

The custody decision rests with a judge in Kane County Juvenile Court.

"I don't think the public understands," Grahn-Hayes said. "These children are not going to go home tomorrow."

But she added that Illinois law requires juvenile courts to try to bring families back together.

"The law mandates keeping families together, not separating them," she said.

Custody was not returned to the parents on Monday, when they reached a plea agreement and were sentenced to 2 years of probation and 200 hours of community service and 30 days of house confinement.

To get their children back, the parents will have to comply with what the state calls a client services plan. Typically, such a plan would include eight weeks of parenting classes, individual and family therapy. The parents in such a case also must demonstrate that they have adequate income and housing for their children's needs.

Additionally, if appropriate, the plan would call for drug and alcohol counseling, and psychiatric evaluations.

Grahn-Hayes said she could not disclose the specifics of the plan.

The children probably will not be told specifically about the plea agreement, she said.

The first visits will be supervised and will occur away from the family's St. Charles-area home. Gradually, they will work up to overnight visits and then weekend visits at the home.

The daughters have "indicated that they do want to see their parents," Grahn-Hayes said. The parents are expected to meet with their children within a week or two, she said.